The Glass House (Anne Buist & Graeme Simsion, Hachette)

Graeme Simsion is well-known for The Rosie Project, and Anne Buist for her crime novels. Partners in real life, their new collaboration, The Glass House, showcases their talent and fields of interest where they overlap—in mental health. In this novel, they have created a remarkable exposé about mental illness and its treatment. The first in a series, this is the book this pair had to write. The overarching narrative belongs to intuitive, resilient Hannah, who has begun work as a registrar in a hospital’s acute psychiatric unit. A narcissistic professor stymies her career, and her family background impacts her professional confidence. This book also centres her colleagues, whose office is located inside the fishbowl-like glass house of the title. Alongside multiple minor patient characters who exhibit different psychiatric conditions, the book follows the trajectory of three major patient characters. Sian has postpartum psychosis, Chloe has anorexia, and a politician’s choices threaten lives and prospects. The prevalence of mental illness, its misunderstanding and stigma, and the sheer importance and complexity of this work are mirrored in the medical staff’s desire to use best practices and minimise harm. Told with an engaging, light touch reminiscent of Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman and Simsion’s The Rosie Project, and for readers of Mercedes Mercier’s Australian psychological crime novels (White Noise and Black Lies), The Glass House is a timely, innovative book.

Books+Publishing reviewer: Joy Lawn has worked for independent bookshops and blogs at Paperbark Words. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

Category: Friday Unlocked reviews Reviews